On the Wings of Promise
by Karania Avalon
Summary: Karania's a seventh year when something new and different happens. Along with the Interhouse Competition there's going to be an Interleague Competition that'll pit the best student players against the pros of the sport.
1. The Wonders of Travel

Chapter 1

Karania Avalon held on for dear life as the Knight Bus made yet another jump. Really, this was getting to be a bit much. She sighed as she thought about it. Once during the summer, she had been considering taking Muggle transportation to Hogwarts this year, but her little sister Arinia had talked her out of it.  
  
Karania looked over at her little sister who appeared quite comfortable as the bus jumped from one place to another. Arinia sighed as she turned the page of her book. Karania shook her head in amazement. Karania was at a complete loss as how her little sister could concentrate on her book while they were making jumps of hundreds of miles at a time.  
  
When the Knight Bus jumped again, Karania lost her grip on her bag. It slid off the seat and skidded across the floor. Karania held onto her seat as she reached down to pick up her bag. When she did, she noticed a folded piece of parchment had fallen out.  
  
Karania picked it up and looked at it curiously. Temporarily forgetting about the frequent jumps of the Knight Bus, Karania let go of her seat and started to open the parchment. The bus jumped again, and she was thrown backwards.  
  
Cursing loudly, she picked herself off of the floor. Apparently this wasn't the time to be reading notes. Or at least it wasn't the time for her to be standing while not holding on to anything.  
  
Arinia looked at her sister in amusement. She started laughing, but stopped abruptly when Karania gave her a look. Karania dusted off her robes and ignored her sister's mocking glance. She clutched the note in her hand tightly, not letting it go.   
  
"Ah, here we are. King's Cross Station, London." Mikhail, the conductor, said.  
  
Karania and Arinia stood, making their way to the front of the bus with their trunks. Mikhail saluted them as they got off, saying,  
  
"Good luck at school this year!"  
  
Karania and Arinia nodded, dragging their trunks to the ground. With a bang!, the Knight Bus was gone. The two sisters made their way to the barrier between platforms nine and ten. There were several people crowded around the barrier, and every once in a while one would disappear.  
  
Karania thought, as she did every year, that the Muggles were blind if they didn't notice so many people disappearing. She shrugged it off, again as she did every year, before moving to the front of the line to go through the barrier.  
  
She casually leaned against the barrier. It felt like she was moving through jelly as she fell through. Dragging her trunk through, Karania began looking for her friends. When she had pulled her trunk all the way through, Arinia crashed through the barrier behind her, almost knocking her over.  
  
"Watch where you're going, Rina." Karania said.

Arinia rolled her eyes before walking on.  
  
No matter how much Karania and Arinia seemed to fight, they were really the best of friends. Arinia would do anything to help her sister if she needed it, and Karania would do the same for her.   
  
Karania's eyes searched through the crowd to find her friend, Regina Thymes. Regina was fighting her cat, Seras, trying to get it into the pet carrier.  
  
"Regina!" Karania shouted, lugging her trunk to where her friend stood. Regina looked up and smiled. Her long chestnut hair was falling from its tie into her eyes. She pushed it out of her eyes and said,  
  
"So, Kara, ready for another year?"  
  
"Last one!" Karania said excitedly.  
  
Regina scowled. "For you, maybe. I still have one year after you're done, remember."  
  
Karania smiled. They both dragged their trunks into the train and looked for a compartment. Finding an empty one, they sat down and began discussing their summer. Karania had spent most of her summer with Viktor Krum (an old family friend), and Regina had spent much of the summer visiting some of her mother's relatives in London.  
  
Halfway through the train ride, Regina let her cat out. Karania didn't remember her note until Seras started playing with a balled up piece of parchment.  
  
"Oh, that's right!" she said, smacking herself on the forehead and pulling the note out of her backpack.  
  
Written in Viktor's untidy handwriting, it said,  
  
_Karania-__  
  
__I had a wonderful time this summer. I hope you did too. We will be seeing each other sooner than you might think. I cannot say more now, but you will soon understand.__  
  
__Viktor_


	2. Secrets and Announcements

Chapter 2

Karania looked at the note again, re-reading it several times trying to figure out what Viktor had meant by "we will be seeing each other sooner than you might think". Still pondering on that, Karania turned back to Regina.

"What's that you have there, Kara?" Regina asked when she noticed the note in Karania's hand.

"Oh it's just a note from Viktor, he slipped it into my bag when I wasn't looking." Karania replied smiling at Regina.

Regina smiled back, "He sounds like a really good friend, you're really lucky."

"Thanks Regina." Karania replied.

Another hour or so passed and shortly before they arrived at Hogwarts Regina and Karania changed into their school robes. When Regina wasn't looking Karania put on her new Ravenclaw Head Girl badge. Then shortly afterward, Regina began fighting her cat Seras to get her back in her pet carrier. This took a little bit of time, but Regina finally managed to get her back into her carrier after fighting her for like fifteen minutes. The train pulled up into the station at this moment and Karania and Regina left their trunks in their compartment along with Karania's owl and Regina's cat and they left the train since they remembered from experience that someone else would bring their bags up to the castle to their dormitories. Karania and Regina upon exiting the train walked down the platform to where many horseless carriages awaited them. Regina and Karania climbed into a carriage that much to Karania's surprise already held her little sister Arinia and her friend Serena.

"Hey little sis, how are you doing now?" Karania asked.

Arinia looked up at her sister, "Fine, I'm just hungry. Those pasteries I ate on the train seem ages ago!"

"Aw, you'll survive, we should be eating in another hour to an hour and a half." Karania said grinning at her.

:"Easy for you to say! You're not the one who's hungry!" Arinia exclaimed.

"Calm down Rina, your sister's right, you will be eating soon." Serena added much to Arinia's annoyance.

"I know...... Oh Karania, what was that piece of parchment you were clutching on the Knight Bus?" Arinia asked trying to get the subject off food.

"Oh, it was just a little note that Viktor slipped into my bag before I left home, I don't know how he managed to slip in there without me noticing but nonetheless he did." Karania replied fingering her Ravenclaw Head Girl badge.

"Whoa! I didn't notice that badge before!" Regina exclaimed.

"Yeah...... I waited to put it on when you weren't looking, I wanted to surprise you with it." Karania replied smiling.

"Humph! You get everything! You first got Prefect back in your fifth year unlike me and was a Prefect all through your sixth year too and now you're Head Girl." Arinia said exasperated.

"Chill Arinia, it was Dumbledore's decision not mine; I didn't ask to be Head Girl, he decided not me." Karania pointed out.

The carriage now started moving heading towards the castle grounds.

"I know, I know...... Still I wish I could get at least something!" Arinia said.

"Keep your grades up and quit wandering at night and perhaps you will." Karania replied.

Arinia rolled her eyes, "I'll try....... Thanks....."

Silence fell at this moment and no one spoke again until the carriage reached the Hogwarts grounds.

"You know Regina, I still don't get what Viktor said in his note......." Karania said.

"Really? What did he say?" Regina asked.

"He said that I would be seeing him soon, though I don't understand how I could with me going to school and him still being back home in Bulgaria unless there's something he isn't telling me......" Karania said.

"Hmm..... It sounds like he isn't telling you something Kara..... Though maybe he has a good explanation for it and will tell you when you see him." Regina remarked thoughtfully.

"I sure hope he'll tell me..... It isn't like him to keep secrets from me unless they're team strategies for his team." Karania replied.

"Team?" Regina asked.

"Yeah, Viktor's Seeker on the Bulgarian team back home." Karania replied.

"You're fascinated with quidditch sis, that's why you're on the Ravenclaw team. You told me that you've even practiced with Viktor while he threw balls to you." Arinia added.

"Geez....... You two really are good friends if he would take time to help you practice, Kara." Regina said.

"Yeah....." Karania replied.

At this moment the carriage pulled up in front of the front steps of the castle and everyone climbed out.

"It looks like we're the last carriage to arrive." Arinia remarked when she didn't see any of the other carriages.

"Yeah, and here come the first years. We should get inside in the Grand Hall so that we won't be in the way." Karania said.

"You do what you want, I'm going into the Great Hall to claim myself a place at the Gryffindor table Arinia said.

Serena nodded at Arinia's words.

"Yeah, and I'll go to the Ravenclaw table and save you a place until you're sure that you won't be needed." Regina said.

"Okay, I'll see you in a minute Regina."

Regina, Karania, Arinia, and Serena walked into the Grand Hall and Serena, Arinia, and Regina walked into the Great Hall while Karania stopped at the foot of the Grand Staircase with her back to someone she hadn't seen yet who stood in the corner off to the side of the Grand Staircase.

"Psst! Karania! Over here!"

Karania turned around, "What? Who?"

"Come here and you'll see!" The voice said.

"Oh all right." Karania walked over to where the voice was coming from and saw Viktor. "Viktor? What are you doing here?"

Viktor grinned big, "You'll see, I expect that Dumbledore should be telling you why we're here soon." Viktor motioned behind him to where the rest of the Bulgarian team stood a ways behind him in the distance.

Viktor's teammates did see Karania but they weren't going to speak to Viktor until she had left.

Karania looked confused so Viktor said, "Aw don't worry, you'll understand! I'll tell ya if you don't understand when you're told.

"Oh okay." Karania said.

"I'll see you later, you don't want to be late for that magnificent start of term feast." Viktor said waving her off after patting her on the back.

"Okay, see you later Viktor." Karania started to walk off in the direction of the Great Hall.

Now Viktor's teammates came a little closer so that they could speak to him.

"Getting friendly with the competition are we?" Andrei Ivanova asked.

Viktor blushed, "Ah....... That's Karania. You know the girl I've told you about. My next door neighbor back home."

"Her? She goes to Hogwarts?" Danail Volkov asked.

"Yeah, she's over there." Viktor said pointing to where Karania was walking towards the entrance to the Great Hall.

"Are you going to introduce her to us at one point?" His teammates asked.

"Yeah, of course, I just didn't want to be the one to tell her about what's happening this year. I wanted Dumbledore to tell her." Viktor replied.

"True......" Luben Dimitrov said thoughtfully.

Viktor's teammates looked back over at Karania just in time to see her disappear into the Great Hall.

By the time Karania had entered the Great Hall the sorting ceremony was just concluding, so Karania walked over to the Ravenclaw table and took her seat beside Regina.

Dumbledore now stood up, "Another term begins again, I have a rather large announcement to make but first let's get everyone fed. Flying flipperfish."

Food now appeared on the tables. Karania reached out and served herself some catfish from the serving tray. Then she served herself some green beans onto her plate along with some mashed potatoes without gravy. Regina however chose to eat chicken and served herself two chicken legs, mashed potatoes with gravy, and some asparagus. Though both Karania and Regina both settled on pumpkin juice as their choice of beverage.

Over dinner between bites, Karania looked at Regina and said, "Guess who I saw out in the Grand Hall."

Regina swallowed her mouthful of mashed potatoes. "Really? Who did you see?" Regina inquired.

"My friend, Viktor Krum." Karania replied.

Regina's eyes bugged out of her head when she heard Karania say that. "You have got to be kidding! Really?"

Rodger Davies leaned over, "What's this? You know Viktor Krum?"

"Yes, Rodger, I know him. It's kind of hard not to since he lives next door to me back home in Bulgaria where I'm from." Karania replied.

"You're from Bulgaria? I didn't know that." Rodger said.

Karania smiled, "Yeah, I kinda forgot to mention it."

Karania, Rodger, and Regina went back to eating and it was another twenty minutes before everyone including Dumbledore finished eating.

Now that everyone was finished Dumbledore stood up, "Okay, now for the big announcement. Though first I want you all to meet some special guests. Guests please come forward to the Head Table."

Everyone turned around to see who was entering the Great Hall and everyone gasped when they saw the Bulgarian team entering the Great Hall. The Bulgarian team walked past the students to the front of the Great Hall and stopped in front of the steps below the Head Table.

"Okay, now it's time for the announcement. This year along with the traditional Interhouse Competition there will be Interleague Competition this year." Dumbledore said.

There was now a buzz of talk before Dumbledore started to speak again, "What this means is that a select group of student players will get the chance to play against several different pro teams for fun with nothing except bragging rights at stake."

There was now an outbreak of excited chatter as everyone started talking about who they thought should be on the team.

Dumbledore began again, "Over the course of the summer I sat down with Madam Hooch and we decided exactly which students should be on the Hogwarts team as it will be called this year. Students please rise and remain standing if you hear your name called. First from Gryffindor house we have Ronald Weazley as Keeper!"

There was much clapping and cheering at the Gryffindor table and the other houses clapped politely. Ron Weazley stood up and remained standing and Dumbledore continued calling names.

"Also from Gryffindor house, we have Jade Willaims as Chaser!" Dumbledore announced.

Again there was much clapping and cheering as Jade's name was called. Like Ron, Jade stood up and remained standing.

"Last but not least from Gryffindor house, we have Harry Potter as Seeker!" Dumbledore announced.

Again there was much clapping and cheering and Harry stood up next to Ron and Jade.

"Now from Slytherin house, we have Johnathan Billard as Beater!" Dumbledore continued.

There was now much cheering from the Slytherin table as Johnathan's name was announced. Johnathan stood up and remained standing.

"Also from Slytherin house, we have Tom Hicks as Beater!" Dumbledore announced.

Again there was much clapping and cheering from the Slytherins and many of the other students of the other houses. Tom stood up and remained standing.

"Now from Hufflepuff house, we have Amy Bell as Chaser!" Dumbledore continued.

The Hufflepuff table now erupted in applause as they cheered for their housemate. Amy stood up and remained standing.

"Finally from Ravenclaw house, we have Karania Avalon as Chaser!" Dumbledure announced.

The Ravenclaw table erupted into applause and Karania stood up as the different houses cheered.

"There you have it, this will be the Hogwarts team for this school year, you will need to figure out who will be Team Captain, but that can be decided at a later date."

The newly announced Hogwarts team continued standing so Dumbledore said, "Everyone who's name was called please remain behind after the feast concludes to pick up your special Quidditch robes that you'll play in this year. Now you may all have a seat again."

Karania and the others sat down again, Karania knew that Viktor's eyes were on her but she wasn't looking his way. Karania turned to her friend Regina.

"Wow! You made the team!" Regina cried happily.

"Yeah! Represent our house well." Davies added excitedly.

"I will, don't worry." Karania replied still sounding shocked.

Another fifteen minutes passed before the meal concluded and everyone headed to their houses except for the newly chosen members of the Hogwarts team. Karania and the other members of the team stayed behind and Dumbledore gave each of them their new playing robes that were black in color with the Hogwarts crest emblazoned upon them. Now that the members of the Hogwarts team had their new robes, everyone on the team headed out of the Great Hall to go up to their respective houses.


	3. Congratulations and Decisions

Chapter 3 

Once Karania and the other members of the Hogwarts team had left the Great Hall, the Bulgarian team headed off in the direction of the extra common room that had been intended to be a house but had never actually became one. Once they had entered their common room they broke their silence and began talking to Viktor.

"So Viktor, your so called 'girlfriend' made the team, what are we going to do now?" Andrei Ivanova asked him

Viktor looked surprised, "All I've got to say is that I didn't know she was good enough to make the team...... Also she's not my girlfriend as of yet, since I haven't asked her, yet."

Anton Levski rolled his eyes, "Just don't let it interfere with how you play in quidditch otherwise we'll get pounded most likely by a bunch of students."

"So what do you know about Karania?" Radomir Vulchanov asked.

Again Viktor looked surprised, "Well she's a Ravenclaw as you probably already know by now, I'm not sure what traits that house is famous for, but she's always makes good grades and still has time to do extracurricular activities."

"Like what sort of extracurricular activities?" Luben Dimitrov inquired.

Once again Viktor looked surprised, "Well she embroiders, usually writes for pleasure, and I remember that she was on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team since she told me that she made the team back in her fourth year. Obviously she managed to stay on it through her sixth year, and now she's a seventh year, who only has one year left to go before she graduates."

"Graduates? Good lord, she looks young for her age from what I've seen of her. I could've sworn that she was still a fifth year or something, but I guess not." Desislav Zgraf said.

"Though how well does she play quidditch?" Andrei Ivanova asked.

Viktor blushed, "Well I only saw her practice once or twice so I really can't tell you, but she seems to know what she's doing. She also came up with some techniques she uses in a crisis type situation."

"Like what kind of crisis situation?" Anton Levski inquired.

"Like a situation where there's two bludgers approaching her at the same time, I've never actually seen her do them but she told me that she has her own bad of tricks that she can reach into and use if she needs to, and she said that they usually come in pretty handy." Viktor replied.

"Two bludgers at the same time? Geez, if that were me, I'd be able to dodge one and then get hit by the second one." Radomir Vulchanov remarked.

"Not Karania, that happened to her once, but one of her tricks worked and she managed to avoid both. She never told me how she did it though......" Viktor replied.

The Bulgarian team looked shocked, "Geez, this girl doesn't sound like your average student player; she sounds like she's good enough to play professionally." Danail Volkov remarked.

"If she is we might be able to get her since she's also from Bulgaria like I told you earlier. Though it's also her choice whether she wants to if we deem that she's good enough." Viktor said.

"We'll have to see her play then." Andrei Ivanova said.

The Bulgarian team all nodded in agreement.

"Then if in fact she is professional material, you can be sure that I'll get her on the team in a hurry." Andrei Ivanova said thoughtfully.

"Who do you think they'll choose as Team Captain? I don't know many of the Hogwarts kids though I'd think that Karania might be able to handle it." Danail Volkov asked.

"I don't know, I think Karania might be the one they pick due to her reputation, but it's hard to know for sure. Viktor replied.

"We'll have to wait and see then." Desislav Zgraf said.

Viktor nodded in agreement at that. The Bulgarian team now sat down in some of the big plushy armchairs in front of the fire and about an hour later they all headed up to bed.

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Meanwhile in the Ravenclaw common room, Karania was surrounded by many members of her house, who were congratulating her for making the Hogwarts team.

"Wow, I still can't believe that you made the team!" Rodger exclaimed.

"How could she not?" Regina asked. "Karania's scored numerous goals for us since she joined the Ravenclaw team so of course she would be picked. I think we have a pretty darn good chance of winning with her on the team."

"True." Rodger said thoughtfully. "I think that Karania could lead the team to victory if they appoint her Team Captain, she's smart enough."

Karania blushed, "Thanks Rodger......"

Rodger smiled, "No problem Karania."

"Well, I'm heading to bed, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow when classes begin." Karania said.

Everyone nodded thinking that what she had just said made a great deal of sense. Karania now walked to the girl's staircase and walked up it to the seventh year's dormitory and entered it. Karania took her new quidditch uniform and opened her trunk and set it in there and changed out of her robes and into her nightgown. Then Karania pulled back the covers and climbed into bed, still daring to believe that she had made the Hogwarts team and that her name had been called to be on it in front of the entire Bulgarian team, especially Viktor. Karania blushed at the thought.

"I bet Viktor was surprised when my name was called." Karania thought aloud.

Karania now snuggled down into her covers and fell asleep in a few minutes with the thought of what an awesome final school year this was turning out to be for her. Shortly after Karania had fallen asleep, her roommates all came up and got ready for bed too, and about ten minutes later they too climbed into bed and went to sleep.

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Meanwhile in the Gryffindor common room, everyone was congratulating Harry, Ron, and Jade on making the Hogwarts team.

"Congratulations Harry, Ron, and Jade!" Colin Creevey exclaimed.

"Yeah!" Dean Thomas added excitedly.

"Thanks everyone." Ron, Jade, and Harry said together.

Now the subject was turned to who they thought ought to be Team Captain.

"Harry, who do you think should be Team Captain this year for the Hogwarts team?" Seamus Finnigan asked.

"I'd like to be Captain, but I'm pretty sure that the Slytherins and the Hufflepuff girl will want Karania as their Captain since she's smart and clever. However, I wouldn't mind that myself much either, since she's smart and always has a trick or two up her sleeve if something unforeseen happens and that in itself is truly incredible." Harry replied.

"I agree with Harry, I think Karania's the obvious choice for our Team Leader, maybe we can learn a thing or two from her and how she thinks." Jade said.

Ron nodded in agreement, "Yeah, totally true. I'd say Karania could be the one who could help us show those professionals that us student players know the sport and can play it just as well as they can."

"Yeah! We'll show em! If Karania's our leader I'm sure we'll let em have it the good old fashioned way using good old fashioned teamwork and god knows we'll need to work together if we're going to beat them." Ron said excitedly.

"Yeah, with my sis leading she'll give you nothing less than her best!" Arinia added with pride in her tone.

"Then it's decided, if we can do anything to get Karania as our leader then we will do it." Harry said making it sound like it was an open and shut case.

There was a little more clapping and cheering by the Gryffindors before they too headed to bed since they didn't want to be tired for their first day of classes when they began the following morning.

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Meanwhile in the Hufflepuff common room, Amy Bell was being congratulated for making it onto the Hogwarts team.

"Congratulations Amy!" Susan Bones exclaimed happily. "We all knew you could do it!"

"Thanks." Amy said feeling uncomfortable with all the attention.

"I'm so proud of you Amy!" Hannah Abbot said smiling.

"Yeah!" Justin Finch-Fletchley said grinning hard.

"Who do you think ought to be Team Captain? I'm sure Dumbledore will want to know that pretty soon." Ernie Macmillian asked.

"Hmm..... Well one thing's for sure I don't feel comfortable with a Slytherin leading the team, I just don't think they'd do a good job. A Gryffindor would be okay, but I'd prefer it best if Karania led the team since she has the brains I think we need to make our team a success." Amy said after a moment of thinking.

"I think you're right." Justin said after she voiced her thought.

"Yeah, Karania has ways of coming up with strategies I wouldn't have dreamed possible." Hannah said grinning.

"No kidding, it's no wonder that the Ravenclaw team has such a good record of being a respectable quidditch team. I think Karania should lead it, I just hope the other members of the team agree....." Amy said.

"Let's hope so, we need someone who can come up with good strategies if we're going to have any hope of beating the professional teams when we play them." Ernie added.

"Good, my vote's for Karania. As soon as I can I'm going to put my vote in to try to get her as our Team Captain." Amy said.

"Good thinking, now that it's been decided I think that we should head to bed, we don't want to be tired for our classes tomorrow." Hannah said pointing this out in a way that seemed like she was explaining that one plus one equaled two.

The Hufflepuffs nodded and after saying goodnight to each other they all headed up to their dormitory rooms to go to bed.

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Meanwhile in the Slytherin common room, everyone was congratulating Johnathan and Tom for making it onto the Hogwarts team.

"Congratulations Tom and Johnathan." Pansy purred. "I knew you could do it!"

"No kidding! You guys are the best!" Blaise Zabini exclaimed.

"Let's just hope that they can help kick some serious pro butt. They certainly deserve it." Draco added with a huge grin plastered across his

face.

"So who should be Team Captain?" Millicent Bulstrode asked.

"I think Karania should, she's got the brains and we're going to need them if we're going to run circles around the pros." Johnathan said.

"I agree, I think Karania would be the better choice, I wouldn't mind listening to a Revenclaw. Listening to her would be a lot better than listening to those Gryffindors on the team even though we will have to work together to bring a victory to our school." Tom said thoughtfully.

"True...... But after this is over the rivalry still stands." Draco said. "Gryffindor and Slytherin will never be friends as long as I have something to say about it."

"Here, here." The Slytherins agreed.

"I'm going to put Karania's name in for the Team Captain position." Johnathan said.

"Yeah, as will I." Tom added quickly.

"Then it's decided, Karania's Team Captain, let's just hope she has some tricks up her sleeve to leave the pros high and dry." Draco said smirking.

"Well now that that's been decided why don't we go to bed, tomorrow's going to be a long day with classes and we don't want to be tired." Blaise pointed out.

"True." Draco said. "Okay, hopefully we'll find out tomorrow who's Team Captain of the Hogwarts team, and let's hope it's Karania. Until then goodnight everyone, we need rest."

Everyone nodded and in a few minutes everyone headed to their dormitories to go to bed.

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Little did everyone know that every house and person seemed to think that Karania was the obvious choice to be Team Captain although only time would tell for sure when Dumbledore inquired as to who they thought should be Team Captain the following morning.


End file.
